Improvement in school-desks



STER-alms s. E. .1. PIPER.

Schqol Desks.`

` Patented April 8, 1873.

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lV A L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE'.

MILAN c. srnBBINs AND EDWIN J. PIPER, `on SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHU- snrrs; sAID srnBBINs AssIeNon To sAIDV PIPER.

IMPROVEMENT IN SCHOOL-DESKS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 137,732, dated April 8, 1873; application filed February 25, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, MILAN (l. STEBBINS and EDWIN J. PIPER, both of Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in School-Desks; and we do here-4 by declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making a part of this specification, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, in which- Figure l is afront View of our invention, and Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section through line D of Fig. 1.

Our invention relates to that class of desks which are commonly used in schools, and in which the scholars keep their books, papers, and other matter pertaining to the pursuit of their studies in school; and it consists of a table or desk having a somewhat inclined top or cover and a drawer beneath it, said drawer being provided with a ledge or rack in which toplace pens, pencils, &c., and in the lower part of the drawer, beneath its bottom, is xed a second bottom or shelf having a narrow space between in which to place an atlas or large sheets of paper.

The ends of the lower part and legs of the desk are made of cast metal, and at a point some distance below the drawer a shelf is firmly fixed, extending from one end of the desk to the other, and the back of the desk, between this shelf and the drawer, is closed in bya wood back, and the sides or ends and the legs are firmly secured to the upper part of the desk and also to the lower shelf and wood backing in such manner as to render the desk rm and substantial.

That others skilled in the art may be able to make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe the same.

In the drawing, A represents the ends of the lower part and legs of the desk, which are made of cast metal, and are secured to the wooden ends of the upper part E by screws or bolts passing through the flanges n into the ends E, which also bear upon the shoulder o of the metal casting." The upper part of the desk is of the ordinary form, and having an inclined top, a, and is provided with a drawer, B, sliding in and out upon the ledges s, and the ends t of the drawer extend down a little distance below the bottom e of the drawer, and a second bottom, c', is secured to these ends, leaving a space, b, between the two bottoms, which space is open in front, as shown in the drawing. To the front of the drawer upon the inside is secured a ledge or cleat, the top of which is higher than when it is secured to the front of the drawer, and this ledge may extend the whole'length of the drawer inside, and the space between this ledge and the front of the drawer serves as a receptacleto hold pens, pencils,.&c. The shelf F is secured in place by screws, shown in dotted lines at w, which are inserted through the metal castings A, extending into the shelf at each end, and rmly securing it in place; and the back board F' may be secured in place either by screws inserted through the upper back board I or through the board F and into the shelf F; or a groove might be made lengthwisethe board F', near the bottom, into which the back edge of the shelf F would t'; and: the space above the shelf F, between it and the drawer, would serve for a receptacle for books of -any desired size; and this space might be lined, if desirable, with any suitable material to prevent the books from being marred or soiled in taking them out and replacing them.

It will be seen that this construction fura nishes ample accommodation for all the books ordinarily required by a pupil, even to the largest lexicon; and all the books are kept entirely separate from the papers' and other articles of that nature that are more easily crushed and soiled 5 and the desk occupies no more room or space than desks of the orA dinary manufacture; and the manner of man -ufacture or puttinglthe parts together is such that the desk is most substantial and firm, and free from liability to work loose in its several parts. Y

Having described our invention, 'what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is=' An improved school-desk having a drawer,

B, therein provided with .a secondary shelf, e, o r atlas case b, and provided also with a l' ledge or penv and lpencil rack, c, and having also the book-shelf F arranged below, all coustructed and arranged substantially as described.

MILAN C. STEBBINS. EDWIN J. PIPER. Witnesses:

T. A. CURTIS,

C. E. BUOKLAND. 

